Christchurch film festival full of promise

Press, 14 July 1978, Page 10

Christchurch film festival full of promise

By

HANS PETROVIC

This year’s Christchurch International Film Festival, to be held at the Carlton Cinema from July 21 to August 4, promises to be the best and most varied yet presented.

Admittedly there are quite a few touches of sex and sadism, but there also are some beautiful and sensitive touches — such as “Allegro Non Troppo,” a delightful modern-day version of “Fantasia”; and “The Lace-Maker,” a delicate love story. This two-week festival is not to be confused with the recent Canterbury Film Festival at the Avenue Cinema, Riccarton. This is a bigger and wider selection of completely different films.

Eight countries are represented in the 15 films to be shown. All but one of these are being screened in the 10th Auckland International Film Festival, which ends only one day before the Christchurch festival begins. This festival is organised by the Christchurch Film Society and Amalgamated Theatres. Depending

on the quality and subject matter of the films, they will be shown from one to four times in one or two days. This year’s many notable films include “The Serpent’s Egg,” Ingmar Bergman’s first movie made outside of Sweden about Nazi repression of Jews before World War II; “The Lace-Maker,” a sensitive look at young love between a couple from different sides of the tracks; “Salon Kitty,” another look at _ the decadence of Nazi Germany in 1939. Besides these “heavy” films, there is also lots of lighter entertainment, including two full-length cartoons: the American “Wizards” and Italy’s “Allegro Non Troppo.” Although there may be last-minute changes in the scheduled programme, here is a run-down of the films expected: “An Unmarried Woman,” U.S.A. (R. 18 Considered one of Paul Mazursky’s best films (after “Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice” and “Blume in Love”), it takes another look at the battlefield of the sexual revolution of the 19705. Alan Bates and Jill Clavburgh go through all these skirmishes in their neurotic glory. This comedy ends with Ms Clayburgh arriving at a state of hard-won feminist bliss.

“Martin,” U.S.A. The story of a lad whose vampire desire compels him to drug his victims, siphon their blood and drink it. The film was well received at the Cannes Film Festival. We are not told iLthe film is in colour. “Allegro Non Troppo,” Italy (GA). This featurelength animated film follows a series of cartoon shorts by one of the world’s best known cartoonists. Bruno Bozzetto is ingenious, clever and above all, funny. The film takes six famous musical pieces (including Ravel’s “Bolero” and Debussy’s “Afternoon of a Faun”) and animates them with remarkable comic invention. Naked nymphs and satyres cavort on the screen, lovers roll about in the grass. Not intended for the eyes of young children, “Allege > Non Troppo” aspires to do ’or modern audiences what “Fantasia” did in its day. “The Serpent’s Egg,” West Germany (R. 18 Shot in Munich by Ingmar Bergman while in self-im-posed exile from Sweden, it is a portrait of a Ger-

man Jew in exile from a whole nation exiled from its humanity. Although overbearingly oppressive at times, this film turns Bergman away from the sterile psychiatric obsessions of his recent work. One of the director’s favourite actresses, Liv Ullmann, stars with David Carradine, of “Kung Fu” fame.

‘.‘The Lace-Maker,” France/Switzerland, West Germany (A). Possibly the nicest film of the lot, it resembles dozens of tearjerkers about doomed, poor-meets-rich lover affairs. The heroine is 18, a shy attendant at a Paris beauty salon. The hero is a university student from a proper bourgeois family. The two meet while on holiday in Normandy, then return to Paris and set up house on the Left Bank. Filled with compassion and intelligence, this movie is particularly well worth seeing. “Salon Kitty,” Italy (R.lB, Restricted to Film

Festival). A real shocker. I was surprised that this film was released in New Zealand — although only for restricted film festival audiences. It is set in Berlin in 1939, when an S.S. officer is put in charge of replacing the “boarders” at a brothel frequented by high ranking officers with “beautiful and intelligent girls who are dedicated to the Naxi cause.” The stars are Helmut Berger and Ingrid Thulin. Excellently acted directed and produced, “Salon Kitty” is a bit of a puzzle because it also presents some of the most pornographic aspects of filming, usually only associated with “blue movies.” (Not shown in Auckland). “El Topo,” Mexico (R. 18 An allegorical spaghetti western made in Mexico. The film tells of a gunfighter clad in black leather who hungers for personal power. We are told that “the blood literally gushes like blood” — possibly somewhat reminiscent of Sam Peckinpah’s movies.

“Seven Beauties,” Italy (R. 18 Directed by that strange filmer maker, Lina Wertmuller, it is concerned with the sexual swagger and pretension of the Italian male, but this time in a wider setting that transforms her earlier theme. Wertmuller treads a thin line between horror and slapstick and Giancarlo Gianini responds to her flambuoyant direction with a full-blooded performance.

“The Last Woman,” France/Italy (R. 20 R.F.F.). Made by Marco Ferreri (director of the still-ban-ned in New Zealand “La Grande Bouffe”), this film is a chronicle of the modem breakdown in malefemale communication. It has been called both feminist and misogynist. Make up your own mind. “Wizards,” U.S.A. (GA)

Another cartoon by th» director of “Fritz the Cat” and “Heavy Traffic,” neither of which has yet been released in New Zealand. This film is a wild and colourful trip through the history of the future, with elves and wizards struggling for victory “Mean Streets,” U.S.A. (R. 18 The .title speaks for itself. It has also been described as a film which makes a stroll through a garish bar look like a tour of hell, with the damned souls brawling, boozing, even killing each other. “Mr Klein,’’ France/Italy (A). Made by Joseph Losey, this film can be described as part thriller, part Kafka night mare, part macarbe black joke. Set in France during the Occupation, it is well acted, saying more about racism than most liberal tracts.

“Immoral Tales.” France, (R. 20 R.F.F.). Again, the title speaks for itself. It has been described as “something of

an iconography of perverted desires” — whatever that means. “Edvard Munch,” Norway/Sweden (GY). The Norwegian painter, Edvard Munch, was one of the pioneers of modern art who, along with Van Gogh, is regarded by many as the founder of expressionism. This film is concerned mainly with the forces that shaped Munch and uses a documentary approach with meticulous detail.

“The Best Wav to Walk,” France (R. 18 In this intriguing comedy the director, Claude Miller, seems to be saying that sexual straightness (particularly during adolescence) is relative — to each his own manner of masturbation fantasy; whatever turns you on, in a private way, is all right. As with other fascinating films, this one is better than the sum of its parts. “Utamaro’s World,” Japan. Something to do with Japanese prostitution. Excellent, if you like Japanese films. Otherwise, a good cocktail party conversation piece.